Cole/Dylan Sprouse and Adam Sandler in “Big Daddy.”
Columbia Pictures/Courtesy Everett Collection
Twenty-five years ago, Adam Sandler’s project Grandpa wiped the floor with the competition.
Sony has released director Dennis Dugan’s comedy feature (Happy Gilmore) on June 25, 1999. The film grossed $41 million in the United States, before grossing $234 million worldwide ($442 million today) and retaining the title of Sandler’s highest-grossing title in the United States until 2000. Hotel Transylvania 2 in 2015.
Grandpa focuses on Sonny Koufax (Sandler), a disaffected law school graduate who tries to prove himself by adopting 5-year-old Julian (Cole and Dylan Sprouse) when the boy shows up on his doorstep. The cast includes Jon Stewart, Joey Lauren Adams, Rob Schneider and Leslie Mann.
During separate conversations with The Hollywood Reporter, producer Sid Ganis and writer Steve Franks (credited for the screenplay alongside Sandler and Tim Herlihy) discuss how Disneyland helped inspire the project and recall that Chris Farley lobbied for the lead role. They also talk about the Sprouse twins’ off-camera connection with Sandler on their first feature film and why not everyone at the studio was immediately convinced of Sandler’s star power.
Rob Schneider, Cole/Dylan Sprouse and Adam Sandler in Big Dad.
Courtesy of Everett
Steve, I believe you were working at Disneyland when you wrote the script?
Steve Frank: I wrote this as a spec while I was working two jobs, but Disneyland was one of them. I was still a graduate film student at Loyola, and I ended up writing it while I was working in the Tiki Room, which is the perfect place to write a screenplay if you’re on the Disney clock. I had been working there for about eight years, from undergrad through grad school.
The idea came from the fact that most of the people who hired me were going to real jobs and I had dreams of making it in entertainment, but there was a good chance I was going to be a 30-year-old guy working at Disneyland. That got me thinking, “What if these young people came in and the guy who was about to not do much with his life was the one who showed up?” My project was actually set in an amusement park.
Sid Ganis: The title of the script was A guy has a child. I read it, and Alex Siskin, who worked for me, read it, and we thought, “This is good. “We knew there was a guy named Sandler around. We didn’t know much about him, but we both had our eye on him. It was our job to make his existence known to the studio. The good news, of course, is that The Wedding Singer was about to open soon.
Francs: I thought A guy has a child It was the perfect title because it tells you everything you need to know about the movie in three words. But I guess you could also interpret it as a kidnapping.
Have any other names been mentioned for the lead role?
Francs: After I did my first rewrite, I must have done something really right because all of a sudden they were like, “They could actually do this thing.” They started throwing around a crazy list of names. John Travolta was one of them. I’m like, “This is a different way to do it.” I love John Travolta, but I never would have imagined this. (Also) John Cusack, and I know Chris Farley really wanted to do it.
Ganis: Chris Farley was definitely, definitely, definitely a name. And that’s where Sandler comes in. Adam is the most loyal, wonderful friend anyone could have, and Chris Farley was his friend, and he said, “Thank you. Let Chris do it. We met Chris and I don’t remember exactly what happened there, but Adam said, “OK, no. I’ll do it.” Cusack came – and Travolta, who is wonderful.
Francs: Wedding singer came out after the script was sold because at that point, nobody knew Sandler could pull off the romantic movie. Then it’s like, “Oh, this is Wedding singer Sandler, no Merry Gilmore Sandler. The possibilities when you add Adam Sandler to the mix become exponentially greater.
Leslie Mann and Jon Stewart in Grandpa.
Courtesy of Everett
How did everyone get on the same page to follow Sandler?
Ganis: Adam’s manager invited us to a test screening of Wedding singerand it knocked us out. We talked to the studio, and they were like, “Are you sure? Shouldn’t we have a big movie star here? ” We said, “He’s a big movie star, but you don’t really know that yet.” » Billy Madison, Happy Gilmore And Wedding singer These were independent films. So there was a convention in Las Vegas, and Amy Pascal, who was the head of Columbia, agreed to go to Vegas, where she saw Wedding singer and met Sandler. He’s a good, very good man, and Amy saw that immediately.
Francs: Sandler was a quiet, kind man. It was a simple, smooth process.
Steve, once Sandler was attached, were you still part of that writing process?
Francs: By then, Sandler had his team around him (including his writing partner Herlihy). I suddenly realized that I was being invited to a lot fewer meetings, and I thought, “Oh, so that’s how it happens.” » (Laughs.) I ended up getting a chance to visit the set, but I was a guest, and it was no longer my plan. I was immediately sidelined, but as a guy who works at the Enchanted Tiki Room, I had no problem with that.
How did the final film evolve from your version of the script?
Franks: They ended up changing the ending. For the most part, the story played out the same way. There were some things I really missed in my draft, but I totally understood what they were doing, and they Sandlerized the tone. I ended up going to television (as the creator of Psych) so I could be the one who was completely in charge of the words. But I loved my movie experience and would do it again in a heartbeat.
Director Dennis Dugan (seated), producer Sid Ganis and Adam Sandler on the Grandpa together.
Courtesy of Everett
I know Sandler and Dugan already had a bit of history together at this point. What made Dugan the right choice to direct?
Ganis: Raja Gosnell (Never been kissed, Big Mamma’s house) was being considered to direct the film. We had been working with Raja on other projects and he had known for a while. Dennis and Adam had worked together. I didn’t really know Dennis, but I met him and he’s another one of those good, nice people.
What were the main challenges in making the film?
Ganis: Working with two kids. The biggest challenge was casting Julian. The very first kids to audition were the Sprouse twins. It was in my office at Sony, and they were amazing. I called Amy and said, “We found them.” She said, “Sid, keep looking.” She was right. I shouldn’t have been so excited. So we kept looking and eventually came back to them.
Adam and the Sprouses have great chemistry. What were they like on set together?
Ganis: Sandler is the father of all time. He’s a family man. When it came to the twins, he was full of love. All they wanted to do was crawl all over him.
The cast is full of gems, including Jon Stewart as Julian’s biological father.
Ganis: The casting turned out to be great for two reasons. The first is that Jon was great in this role. And then, God knows, he became Jon Stewart. I remember standing with Jon in Central Park during a break, and he said, “In (January 1999), I’m going to start this series called The daily show.“When I got the chance to become president of the Academy, I called my wife and said, ‘I’m the president of the Academy.’ She said, ‘Great, get Jon Stewart (to host the Oscars).” We had him twice.
What do you remember about the opening weekend?
Franks: Me and all my friends who worked at Disneyland, we all went to see it on opening night. There were 43 of us who bought tickets to this theater near Disneyland. It was great: “Hey, do you want to go see this movie I wrote?” And it made $41 million. It was way beyond my expectations.
Historically, Sandler’s comedies have not tended to be critically acclaimed. Do you remember being frustrated by Grandpa’What’s your opinion?
Ganis: No. Sandler told me at the very beginning, ‘Don’t pay attention to them. Don’t worry about it.’ What I personally like is that in the serious work that he does from time to time, the critics think he’s the best because he is.
Pete Davidson said he auditioned for Grandpa. Do you remember anything about this?
Ganis: My God, I don’t remember now.
Franks: I had never heard that before. You just added a bit of tradition to this whole story.
Sandler didn’t tend to make sequels at that time. Was there a possibility of a sequel at the time, and has there been talk more recently of a streaming reboot?
Ganis: There are always rumors of a sequel when a movie is a hit. But thank goodness we knew that wasn’t the case. Grandpa it is what it is.
Francs: It’s something I would definitely like to revisit because it’s a really fun area to explore and there are a lot of great opportunities. If they ever wanted to do a series or a sequel, I would absolutely be the first one to step forward.